Roundup – Recent Mentions for BBE/IHRTN Affiliates

2015 proved to be a great year for artists affiliated with I Heart Noise / Boston Becomes Eclectic – and 2016 is gearing up to be an even more exciting year if a recent spate of reviews is any indication…

Some ended up on podcasts (Jenova 7), others made to End of the Year lists (Anda Volley, Audrey Harrer) and yet others received great reviews (Twink, Skyjelly), but enough of talk….lets walk the walk!

Audrey Harrer’s debut studio release shimmers with six poetic compositions where she uses her harp to shape playful, cinematic structures that challenge the precision of Joanna Newsom. Vocally, she leaps through the tones of Julia Holter and Jenny Hval, finding strength within fragility. Harrer has done the impossible: make intricate compositions relaxed in their reveals. Jamaica Plain has something well worth harping on.

A singer, songwriter and producer based in the heart of Boston, Anda Volley has become a rising talent in the alternatives and electronics scenes lately. Her debut album, ‘Inside the Ghost Machine’ dropped in 2014, and unleased a vivid tapestry of insightful lyrics and improvised electronic grooves, and only one year later, Volley is now back to do it all again with her new EP, ‘My Flawless Computerized Mind’.

A somewhat eclectic mixture of flickering static, vocal recordings, and audio samples, the opening track of the release is not immediately engaging. It’s a twisted storm of sounds and motions, that expands over the course of six minutes without ever truly finding a form, and while it’s lucidity offers some sort of intrigue, it’s often transient at best.

Described as a musical mad scientist, Boston’s Mike Langlie adopted his Twink moniker after finding an old toy piano in a thrift store. From then on his music project quickly took shape and blossomed into a cacophony of bells, chimes, xylophones, synths, and rusted toy textures. Release after released followed, with Langlie solidifying his own unique sound with each new chapter, and now with his new record ‘Dust Bunny’ surfacing, it’s time to celebrate Twink the artist.